BubblegumBoy's Inspiration
by Sakuyachan
Summary: [Mild MaruiXJirou] - Jirou, from Tokyo came all the way to Kanagawa, just to visit Rikkaidai Fuzoku for his first time. The reason behind this is because he's aiming to play a match against a very inspiring red-head. [Crack-coupling One-shot 1]


** Bubblegum-Boy's Inspiration  
Short One-Shot Marui/Jirou Friendship**

**---**  
  
Jirou Akutagawa; the indolent boy of Hyotei had secretly sneaked into the tennis courts of Rikkaidai Fuzoku, just to inspect the match of a certain red-headed boy.  
  
Jirou's cheeks began to rise up as it formed an exciting smile on his face while he observed each move of the red-head, his talented skills and the swift swings of his racket.  
  
He's so cool... Jirou always thought to himself whenever he saw that boy, and that boy which Jirou had been paying attention to for these few years is Marui Bunta; the bubblegum boy of Rikkaidai.  
  
Since the day when Marui had beat him in the newcomers' match two years ago, Jirou had been inspired by his magnificent skills in tennis all these years, but yet, he hadn't had a chance to speak to him personally, and definitely NOT when all his team members are around. Especially Atobe...  
  
Finally, he noticed that the practice has ended. His heart began to pound rapidly and his excitement began to increase each and every step Marui took towards him. At last, the red-head was standing right in front of him with a smile on his face.  
  
"Marui-kun!" Jirou exclaimed and stared at him with gleaming eyes, 'Awesome...!' his mind kept repeating.  
  
"Hi, Jirou-kun!" Marui responded with his usual introduction pose; a victory sign and a wink. He bent down to the bench and drank some water from his water bottle.  
  
"Um, Marui-kun, would you mind if we could play a little bit more tennis?!" Jirou asked, his voice had slight hinting of determination, "A-after last time's match, I- I..."  
  
Marui stopped drinking and looked at Jirou for a moment before patting him on the back, "Sure we can! How about a game right now? Did you bring your racke-"  
  
Just before Marui could finish his sentence, Jirou had jumped a feet high and began squealing on and on about his happiness, "Yes! I do have my rackets with me, Marui-kun!"  
  
Marui sweat dropped due to his reaction. This boy was just weird; he had never seen someone this excited just because they're playing him. It was just... plain weird! Sanada fuku-buchou had played him nearly everyday, but he took so easily yet Marui was no match against him. Renji; the master hardly ever played him, though again, their skills were still a distance a part.  
  
Kirihara and him were almost impossible to have a peaceful match, quarelling would usually be involved in most parts of the game. There, Kirihara gets mad and gives him a hard blow, he returns it just as hard. The two boys will start fighting, while the fuku-buchou makes them run laps, again...  
  
Niou, Yagyuu and Jackal were the ones to play him most often, Jackal will team up with him as a doubles team while Niou and Yagyuu as another.  
  
"So, it's a one-set match, you'll serve!" Marui called out to Jirou as he awaited for the ball to approach his side of the court.  
  
"Okay!" Jirou called back and threw the ball above him. SMASH. The ball, in top speed, flew across the net and went past Marui in a flash.  
  
Service ace. 15-Love, "YAY!!! I scored a point against you, Marui-kun!!!" Jirou, as usual, began jumping around and yelling. Marui found this boy really entertaining, he was often cheery and giggly which was totally different from his captain; always worried and sad, but Yukimura will always be the important person in everyone's mind, he's a very respected person to the Rikkaidai tennis club.  
  
Jirou and Marui continued their game, delightfully. Points were scored fairly and the game between them was becoming more and more exciting. People who came down the stairs from their afterschool activities would stare down the window and examine their game. People who walked past the tennis courts would stop by and watch.  
  
Finally, it came to and end. Game and match. Marui.  
  
Jirou walked over to Marui's side and ruffled his hair before pouting a little, "Gah, guess I was no match for you... Marui-kun."  
  
Marui waved a hand in front of him in denial, "No, you did very well, Jirou- kun!"  
  
Jirou took his bag and began walking side to side with Marui. It was quite late now, the sky was now orangey, which meant that it's around 5:00PM.  
  
"Marui-kun..." Jirou mumbled.  
  
"Hm?" came the stuffy reply, Marui was chewing gum, which made him unable to speak clearly.  
  
"Will we play another time...?" Jirou asked before standing still on his position.  
  
Marui stopped in his tracks and turned around facing Jirou before placing both of his hands on his shoulder, shoving them slightly, "Yes we will-"  
  
When Marui shoved him, his head was tilted up and revealed his face clear to the whole world, eyelids closed, mouth open with a bit of drool and silent snoring, "JIROU!!!"

---

** End of Story**

I hope you've enjoyed this short story I've written. Like I've mentioned before, comments are loved, constructive critisisms are appreciated kindly and flames (that are unreasonable) are humiliated. Please note that reviews are not required for me, just enjoy this as much as you possibly can, I wrote this story for both MaruiXJirou fans and myself. For those who aren't fans but don't mind this pairing, you are more than welcome to read this! -


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